OUT OF THIS WORLD .. ben tennyson x reader

xvii. truth revealed

The position Ben is in is uncomfortable but not downright unbearable.

Arms and legs spread with each limb restrained by a chain of energy kept him still and upright within a circular cage. His left arm was caught in a dramatically large cylinder, covering everything from his hand to his elbow.

He'd been left alone for some time since Vilgax dragged him onto the much larger ship and into the trap. There were noises everywhere, so it was hard to pinpoint where exactly he had gone after stringing him up. All that he knew was that [name] was still with him and was starting to rouse when they disappeared behind the hydraulic doors.

Ben had tried his luck at breaking himself free with little luck. The most he'd succeeded in doing was rotating himself to the left enough that his elbow was slightly bent.

"Took you long enough," he scoffs when Vilgax finally reappears. The bump in the back of his tentacles is missing, and he can only assume [name] was deposited somewhere on the ship. Safe, he hoped. "I was starting to fall asleep."

With more energy than he had in their earlier interaction, Vilgax sneers down at Ben as he approaches. "So long as you don't interrupt my task, I don't care what it is you do." Belatedly, he realizes Vilgax was more energetic than he had been during the RV chase. Earlier, he'd been slow with his leaps, quieter with his voice, and gentler with his handling. Now Vilgax was terrifyingly fast and medical with his movements and more authoritative with his words.

A table rises from a panel on the floor, filled from edge to edge with tools. None of which looked particularly friendly.

Vilgax's claws run over each piece of equipment intimately before settling on an energy blade. His grip on the handle tightens as he picks it up, thumb pressing the small button on the back of it just to watch the saw rev. "Prepare for take-off," he speaks to a droid (not like the ones Ben fought earlier, but similar to one of the bounty hunters that had chased him weeks ago) as it enters. "Once we're in orbit, I will finally have the pleasure of destroying this miserable planet once and for all."

"That's why I came here, sir." The android— the better fitting term seeing as it can talk, Ben thinks— flinches when Vilgax snaps his head to look at them. They recover quickly enough and drop their hands to their sides from where they anxiously fidgeted with them. "We were told not to."

The newfound information isn't taken kindly. Vilgax lets out a growl as the tools recede into the floor, testing his blade again, only to find that the blade refuses to move. "And since when did you take orders from anyone other than me?"

There's a beat of silence following the initial cracking of the bot's voice box, yet they quickly stop themselves.

".. We were threatened," they eventually answer in a low voice.

Vilgax closes his hand into a fist until the handle crumbles within, dropping down and opening it to let the debris fall to the floor. The table of tools rumbled to lift again with the motion, coming up to his knee before falling and becoming encased in the floor again. The process repeats several times until Ben turns his head away to hide his laughter, and Vilgax lets out a snarl.

"Don't tell me you're leaving again," Ben scoffs as Vilgax steps towards another doorway. It's not the one he previously retreated in and reappeared from, so was it the control room? Was the one he took [name] through the med-bay? If that was the case, what was the room Ben was in considered? "What if I plot escape while you're gone? Don't wanna have one of your henchmen watch me?"

The look Vilgax gives him isn't comforting in the slightest— though, in his short time of knowing him, Ben had come to realize he shouldn't expect anything better than a glare. The tentacles at his chin writhe in what he thinks is further annoyance. "Stay with him," Vilgax commands the android after an uncomfortably long stretch of silence and staring. "Ensure he doesn't try anything further."